Join us on Monday, October 6 from 7:30 - 9:30 am for this Annual Celebration, hosted by Quality Partners with honorary co-chairs, U.S. Senators Jack Reed and Sheldon Whitehouse. This is an opportunity to network with colleagues and hear about best practices.

This year's keynote speaker is Stephen Harden, President of LifeWings Partners LLC. He has helped more than 80 healthcare organizations in 26 states implement the best safety practices from aviation and other high reliability industries. He is co-author of "CRM: The Flight Plan for Lasting Change in Patient Safety," which focuses on implementing aviation-based safety tools in healthcare. The focus of his address will be patient safety and healthcare quality and will apply to all settings of care, including hospitals, nursing homes, physician offices and home health agencies. Registration is free and available on-line. Register today!

This year's event also includes our Healthcare Awards Program, which showcases improvements implemented by Rhode Island organizations. Visit the Healthcare Awards section of the web site to learn more. The deadline for award application submissions is Monday, August 4.

Meet the Quality Partners Staff

Shannon Massaroco (pictured above, on left) is a Project Assistant for the long-term care (LTC) team. Shannon's administrative support keeps the LTC team functioning and able to achieve a great deal of success. Her support and administration of project activities includes working closely with project managers, specialists, coordinators, doctors and stakeholders on special assignments, assisting with contract deliverables, project planning, travel, and the integration of technology. Shannon's work immerses her deeply into both clinical and workforce issues nationally and locally. She has assumed a leadership role assisting the team in creating electronic based learning modules to allow greater access to the training offered by Quality Partners.

Melissa A. Miranda is a Project Coordinator at Quality Partners of Rhode Island, where she has been a key member of the long term care team at Quality Partners of Rhode Island for 8 years, supporting and consulting on an array of projects, both locally and nationally.

In her most recent project, she serves as "Success Coordinator" for the CHUM program (Career Help for the Upwardly Mobile). Through this work, she supports incumbent and unemployed workers in their career journey, helping them to find the skills and resources to advance in their career and education. To ensure the continued bridging of the education and employment worlds, Melissa works with a team that collaborates with several local workforce partners, including the Department of Adult Education, Department of labor and Training and literacy programs in the state.

Issue: 13

July 2008

News for Home Health Agencies

Using CASPER Reports for Quality Improvement

The Certification and Survey Provider Enhanced Report System (CASPER) application is accessible to all home health agencies that submit OASIS data. The application is accessed via the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) State Welcome page. This is the same site for OASIS submissions. Unlike the data that appears on Home Health Compare, the current outcome measure rates on your CASPER reports have not been risk-adjusted. The following are a few of the reports available to your agency via CASPER:

The Case Mix Analysis Summary Report, an additional OBQI report, is designed to provide a summary of the differences in the case mix factors among patients that achieved a particular outcome, compared with those patients that did not achieve each outcome.

The "Polish Your Practice-Data Analysis Series" is now available on MedQIC. This WebEx presentation will provide Quality Improvement Specialists the knowledge to assist with accessing, interpreting and utilizing data to improve quality outcome measures.

Join Quality Partners for the 5th Annual Celebration of Healthcare Quality in Rhode Island. This year's keynote speaker is Stephen Harden, President of LifeWings Partners LLC. He has helped more than 80 healthcare organizations in 26 states implement the best safety practices from aviation and other high reliability industries. He is co-author of "CRM: The Flight Plan for Lasting Change in Patient Safety," which focuses on implementing aviation-based safety tools in healthcare.

The focus of his address will be patient safety and healthcare quality and will apply to all settings of care-hospitals, nursing homes, physician offices and home health agencies.

The Rhode Island Health Information Exchange (HIE) Project, now known as CurrentCare, continues to make great strides. The technical development is focusing on Business Associate Agreements, the taxonomy/mapping application and a systematic review of the Draft CurrentCare Design Specifications.

Policy development has been focused on finalizing the CurrentCare Authorization Form and refinement of the Breach policies.

The first enrollment strategy, which will include mailing information and Enrollment Forms to a random selection of approximately 10,000 Medicaid households, will begin in late July.

As of June 20, the Health Information Exchange Act of 2008 passed in both the House and Senate committees and will now be advanced to the Office of the Governor for signature.

The State and Regional Demonstration in Health Information Technology Project, also known as the AHRQ Health IT Project is a 5-year, $5 million dollar demonstration project that was awarded to the Rhode Island Health Department by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality in 2004 and has been extended through 2010. Rhode Island is one of 6 states to be part of this demonstration project. The contract will plan, develop, implement and evaluate an electronic "backbone" to facilitate interoperability and sharing of patient data between hospitals, physician offices, labs and other healthcare providers.

The House recently approved a bill that would delay Medicare physician fee cuts and authorize incentive payments for physicians who use electronic prescriptions.The incentive payments would be 2% in fiscal years 2009 and 2010, 1% in 2011 and 2012, and 0.5% in 2013. Read more about the incentives.

SureScripts, RxHUB Merger Aims To Boost E-PrescribingOfficials from the electronic prescription networks SureScripts and RxHub are scheduled to announce their merger in an effort to promote greater adoption of electronic prescribing by physicians. The merger combines SureScripts' electronic drugstore routing system and RxHub's insurance information database of more than 200 million insured patients. The merged network, called SureScripts-RxHub, will allow doctors to send prescriptions electronically and review insurance coverage and patients' drug histories.

Meetings & Events

Join Quality Partners for the 5th Annual Celebration of Healthcare Quality in Rhode Island. This year's keynote speaker is Stephen Harden, President of LifeWings Partners LLC. He has helped more than 80 healthcare organizations in 26 states implement the best safety practices from aviation and other high reliability industries. He is co-author of "CRM: The Flight Plan for Lasting Change in Patient Safety," which focuses on implementing aviation-based safety tools in healthcare.

The focus of his address will be patient safety and healthcare quality and will apply to all settings of care-hospitals, nursing homes, physician offices and home health agencies.

Nursing homes around the country are working to make their homes better places to live and work. Below are two success stories from nursing homes who have made improvements related to pain management, pressure ulcer care and physical restraints. Take a few minutes and read about their successes. For additional nursing home resources, check out www.MedQIC.org.

This success story focuses on the work of staff at Wyndcrest nursing home in Clinton, Iowa. Consistent assignment has led to improved resident care and improvement in clinical measures, especially with pain management and pressure ulcers. Read the Wyncrest Improvement Story.

Join Quality Partners for the 5th Annual Celebration of Healthcare Quality in Rhode Island. This year's keynote speaker is Stephen Harden, President of LifeWings Partners LLC. He has helped more than 80 healthcare organizations in 26 states implement the best safety practices from aviation and other high reliability industries. He is co-author of "CRM: The Flight Plan for Lasting Change in Patient Safety," which focuses on implementing aviation-based safety tools in healthcare.

The focus of his address will be patient safety and healthcare quality and will apply to all settings of care-hospitals, nursing homes, physician offices and home health agencies.

2nd Annual Culture Change SymposiumWednesday, November 19Registration is from 7 to 8:00 amCrowne Plaza at the Crossings, Warwick, RI

Please join Rhode Island Generations, a coalition of local long-term care stakeholders, for the 2nd Annual Culture Change Symposium on November 19. The Symposium aims to provide participants with an increased awareness of individualized care, products, tools and services for in support of individualized resident care. Read more about the event.

Population and Sampling Reporting ReminderRHQDAPU hospitals are required to submit Quarter 1 - 2008 aggregate population and sample size counts for Medicare and non-Medicare discharges for AMI, HF, PN, and SCIP to CMS via QualityNet.org by August 1 in order to receive RHQDAPU payment.

The Guest Speaker will be Stefan Gravenstein, MD, MPH, CMD, FACP. The title of his presentation is Pressure Ulcer Prevention: Bridging Nursing Home Initiatives with Hospital Prevention Programs. All hospital team members are welcome. No registration required.

RI Surviving Sepsis Campaign Summit

Tuesday, September 167:30 am to noonSheraton Hotel, Warwick, RI

ED and ICU multi-disciplinary team members are encouraged to attend. The ICU summit will feature local academic experts, Mitchell M. Levy, MD, FCCM; Sean Townsend, MD; and Jane A. Taylor, EdD, Improvement Specialist. This program is offered at no charge, but requires advance registration.

5th Annual Celebration of Healthcare Quality in

Rhode Island

Monday, October 67:30 - 9:30 am

Crowne Plaza Hotel, Warwick, RI

Join Quality Partners for the 5th Annual Celebration of Healthcare Quality in Rhode Island. This year's keynote speaker is Stephen Harden, President of LifeWings Partners LLC. He has helped more than 80 healthcare organizations in 26 states implement the best safety practices from aviation and other high reliability industries. He is co-author of "CRM: The Flight Plan for Lasting Change in Patient Safety," which focuses on implementing aviation-based safety tools in healthcare.

The focus of his address will be patient safety and healthcare quality and will apply to all settings of care-hospitals, nursing homes, physician offices and home health agencies. This program is offered at no charge but requires advanced. Register online today!